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@slimfern the Talking Picture channel is showing the Hitchcock 1937 film "Young and Innocent" this afternoon at 15.15. Not one of his best but still worth watching. Starred Nova Pilbeam (her real name) and Derrick de Marney who were very popular at that time.
Derrick had a brother Terence who was also an actor.  They also did stage acting and my mother met one of them in London either before or after a stage appearance.

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

If you want to see "Young and Innocent" and miss this afternoon's showing it can be seen on Youtube via:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9gKhRpweWI
Although there are subtitles in Spanish you can turn those off. There are Youtube ones without those subtitles but this one has noticeably better graphics quality.

Watched it this morning El
Didn't have any subtitles on my you tube ? Which worked out fine as I didn't want them anyway

Good story

slimfern
@slimfern posted:

It was obvious who was responsible right from the get go, but the story was more about proving it.
We have definitely come far where stunts & scenery are concerned, yet I quite like the old fashioned innocence of films

I agree

Some of Michael Powell's films from the 1940s use special effects which stand up to modern films. His "Black Narcissus" where the scenery is spectacular but was in fact was filmed in doors. His "A Canterbury Tale" has a scene where to show that time has passed from Chaucer's time to the present we see a falconer releasing a falcon who soars into the sky and then we see a plane flying overhead. Years later Stanley Kubrick did the same in 2001 with a bone being thrown into the air and then we see a spacecraft. The two scenes are essentially the same. In Powell's "A Matter of Life and Death" there's a table tennis scene where the players and ball have frozen with David Niven walking around, a scene which technically is many years ahead of its time.

El Loro
Last edited by El Loro
@El Loro posted:

I agree

Some of Michael Powell's films from the 1940s use special effects which stand up to modern films. His "Black Narcissus" where the scenery is spectacular but was in fact was filmed in doors. His "A Canterbury Tale" has a scene where to show that time has passed from Chaucer's time to the present we see a falconer releasing a falcon who soars into the sky and then we see a plane flying overhead. Years later Stanley Kubrick did the same in 2001 with a bone being thrown into the air and then we see a spacecraft. The two scenes are essentially the same. In Powell's "A Matter of Life and Death" there's a table tennis scene where the players and ball have frozen with David Niven walking around, a scene which technically is many years ahead of its time.

Was that 2001: A space odyssey?

slimfern

It is not known whether Arthur C Clarke or Stanley Kubrick had seen "A Canterbury Tale" when they made "2001".

"A Canterbury Tale" wasn't a success when it was released. It's a film which has increased in reputation. The director Martin Scorcese was an admirer of Powell's "The Red Shoes" and was disturbed when he discovered that Powell was living in near obscurity. He was determined to restore Powell's reputation and succeeded. "A Canterbury Tale" didn't get shown on the BBC until 1978, so after "2001" was made.

Intriguingly, there is a direct connection between the two films. Charles Staffell worked on both films in an uncredited role - that of back projection. He would have been one of many involved in the making of "2001" so to say that he came up with the scene in "2001" is speculative.

El Loro
Last edited by El Loro
@El Loro posted:

It is not known whether Arthur C Clarke or Stanley Kubrick had seen "A Canterbury Tale" when they made "2001".

"A Canterbury Tale" wasn't a success when it was released. It's a film which has increased in reputation. The director Martin Scorcese was an admirer of Powell's "The Red Shoes" and was disturbed when he discovered that Powell was living in near obscurity. He was determined to restore Powell's reputation and succeeded. "A Canterbury Tale" didn't get shown on the BBC until 1978, so after "2001" was made.

Intriguingly, there is a direct connection between the two films. Charles Staffell worked on both films in an uncredited role - that of back projection. He would have been one of many involved in the making of "2001" so to say that he came up with the scene in "2001" is speculative.

A coincidence?
It's not unusual amongst the arts for a bit of 'borrowing' of another's work.....I can definitely see the similarity.
Have not seen 'A Canterbury Tale' and have to admit being a bit bored with '2001: A space odyssey' (after the initial horror)
I did however love 'The Red Shoes' when I saw it many years ago. I think I wanted to be a ballerina for a short while after

Slightly off topic....I did 'The Canterbury Tales' as part of my English Literature O'Level

slimfern
@slimfern posted:

A coincidence?
It's not unusual amongst the arts for a bit of 'borrowing' of another's work.....I can definitely see the similarity.
Have not seen 'A Canterbury Tale' and have to admit being a bit bored with '2001: A space odyssey' (after the initial horror)
I did however love 'The Red Shoes' when I saw it many years ago. I think I wanted to be a ballerina for a short while after

Slightly off topic....I did 'The Canterbury Tales' as part of my English Literature O'Level

"A Canterbury Tale" is my favourite film and I have seen it many times. The film needs to be seen more than once as the basic storyline does seem odd but it's a multi-layered film. It's a film which doesn't fit in any one genre. Although it has a WW2 background it is not a warm film, although there's a mystery, it's not a detective story.
It's not based on any of Chaucer's tales.
Michael Powell grew up in the Kent countryside and the film is in a sense an eulogy for that and a sense that life would never be the same again after the war ended.

Was "The Canterbury Tales" part of your O level? I thought that was generally done at A level.

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

"A Canterbury Tale" is my favourite film and I have seen it many times. The film needs to be seen more than once as the basic storyline does seem odd but it's a multi-layered film. It's a film which doesn't fit in any one genre. Although it has a WW2 background it is not a warm film, although there's a mystery, it's not a detective story.
It's not based on any of Chaucer's tales.
Michael Powell grew up in the Kent countryside and the film is in a sense an eulogy for that and a sense that life would never be the same again after the war ended.

Was "The Canterbury Tales" part of your O level? I thought that was generally done at A level.

Definitely part of my O'levels
Alongside: To kill a mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath, Romeo & Juliet, Lord of the flies...can't remember anymore...it was a long time ago

I'll give A Canterbury Tale a watch

slimfern
Last edited by slimfern
@slimfern posted:


I'll give A Canterbury Tale a watch

Gets shown on BBC, Film 4 and Talking Pictures from time to time. Leads were Eric Portman, Sheila Sim in her first film, Dennis Price in his first significant role, and the American Sgt. John Sweet (he was stationed here during the war and was allowed to be in the film in his only film role). Near the beginning you may recognise the station master as Charles Hawtrey in a rare non-comedy role.
Also available on Youtube but this is a film which needs to be seen on a decent sized screen. There's a scene on a hill where Shelia Sim finds Eric Portman (it's not a romantic scene in the normal meaning, it's not that type of film). Have you ever been on a walk in the countryside in summer and you sit down and notice the blades of grass waving in the gentle breeze?

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

Gets shown on BBC, Film 4 and Talking Pictures from time to time. Leads were Eric Portman, Sheila Sim in her first film, Dennis Price in his first significant role, and the American Sgt. John Sweet (he was stationed here during the war and was allowed to be in the film in his only film role). Near the beginning you may recognise the station master as Charles Hawtrey in a rare non-comedy role.
Also available on Youtube but this is a film which needs to be seen on a decent sized screen. There's a scene on a hill where Shelia Sim finds Eric Portman (it's not a romantic scene in the normal meaning, it's not that type of film). Have you ever been on a walk in the countryside in summer and you sit down and notice the blades of grass waving in the gentle breeze?

I'll watch it on you tube through my tv, it has a decent sized screen

slimfern
@slimfern posted:

It's a good feel film ....all three got a good outcome
The only one who didn't get what he wanted was the 'glue man'....he wanted Alice didn't he?
I loved the scenes with the boys playing at being soldiers

Thomas Colpepper probably did have feelings for Alison but there was no way in which she was interested.
Not to be confused with Thomas Culpepper who was arrested on orders from Henry VIII on charges of adultery with Catherine Howard and was executed.

Those scenes with the boys playing at being soldiers were delightful

The scene at the end in Canterbury Cathedral - that wasn't in the cathedral as it had been damaged - they built a replica of the inside at the studio.

You may want to re-see the film some time as it's one which people find improves when seen again.

El Loro

Many years ago I was on a bus with my parents going somewhere in the countryside. The bus stopped and two men got on and sat next to each other at the front side seats. I was near the back. After a couple of stops, they got off. But for some reason, one of the men stuck in my memory.

Years later I was watching a documentary on television, I think it was about what had happened to Denham film studios (Alexander Korda had produced major British films there back in the 1930s including The Private Life on Henry VIII, the film which brought British films to international attention). And there was the man I saw on the bus

But what was he doing on a bus in the middle of the countryside? It didn't seem likely.

Eventually I found that he had been living in Avening which is between Stroud and Tebury which is the bus I would have been on.

Yes, it was Michael Powell. I don't know who the other man was. It might have been Emeric Pressburger, but who knows.

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

"A Canterbury Tale" is my favourite film and I have seen it many times. The film needs to be seen more than once as the basic storyline does seem odd but it's a multi-layered film. It's a film which doesn't fit in any one genre. Although it has a WW2 background it is not a warm film, although there's a mystery, it's not a detective story.
It's not based on any of Chaucer's tales.
Michael Powell grew up in the Kent countryside and the film is in a sense an eulogy for that and a sense that life would never be the same again after the war ended.

Was "The Canterbury Tales" part of your O level? I thought that was generally done at A level.

I had an experience along those lines, sort of.



At  school I did maths at 3 levels. O grade, Higher and SYS (sixth year studies).

When i went for the SYS exam I was the only one there and for some reason the invigilator didn't have the paper and had to go and get it from another room. After studying it for a few minutes I realized jt was the Higher paper, not the SYS one. However one of the questions I noticed on it (before he took iy away and got the correct paper) was about a thing I had done for my O grade maths, made me wonder about the perenial argument about the exams being 'dumbed down'.

Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing
@El Loro posted:

Have you ever been on a walk in the countryside in summer and you sit down and notice the blades of grass waving in the gentle breeze?

Yes I have....many times
It was nice to see them appreciate their surroundings, and the comparisons Bob made to his home town and family. And Alison having a moment where she could hear what I think were noises from the opening scenes of horses and people...on their pilgrimage.

I will take another watch

slimfern

I had an experience along those lines, sort of.



At  school I did maths at 3 levels. O grade, Higher and SYS (sixth year studies).

When i went for the SYS exam I was the only one there and for some reason the invigilator didn't have the paper and had to go and get it from another room. After studying it for a few minutes I realized jt was the Higher paper, not the SYS one. However one of the questions I noticed on it (before he took iy away and got the correct paper) was about a thing I had done for my O grade maths, made me wonder about the perenial argument about the exams being 'dumbed down'.

Many years ago I was doing O levels. I was going an accountancy one. Due to the way the lessons were scheduled I had to teach myself the accountancy one, So I bought a teach yourself book-keeping book and learned from that. When I came to do the exam, it was then that I realised that accountancy and book-keeping were different (book-keeping being just part of accountancy). Still managed to pass the exam though

El Loro

@slimfern another Hitchcock film today on Talking Pictures at noon, his 1944 film "Lifeboat".
The version on Youtube is not worth watching as it's incomplete in length and the top and bottom of the film screen is missing.
"Lifeboat" is unusual in that virtually all the film is on the small lifeboat.
(Hitchock's cameo is in a newspaper advert for a weight reducing product showing him before and after, the pictures are genuine as he has just been on a crash diet getting down from three hundred pounds to two hundred)

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

Many years ago I was doing O levels. I was going an accountancy one. Due to the way the lessons were scheduled I had to teach myself the accountancy one, So I bought a teach yourself book-keeping book and learned from that. When I came to do the exam, it was then that I realised that accountancy and book-keeping were different (book-keeping being just part of accountancy). Still managed to pass the exam though

I went to night school in the mid 80’s and gained an o level in Accounting

machel
@El Loro posted:

@slimfern another Hitchcock film today on Talking Pictures at noon, his 1944 film "Lifeboat".
The version on Youtube is not worth watching as it's incomplete in length and the top and bottom of the film screen is missing.
"Lifeboat" is unusual in that virtually all the film is on the small lifeboat.
(Hitchock's cameo is in a newspaper advert for a weight reducing product showing him before and after, the pictures are genuine as he has just been on a crash diet getting down from three hundred pounds to two hundred)

I watched it. Not one of his better films imo.
Is the man holding the newspaper the one in film that had his leg removed?

slimfern
@slimfern posted:

I watched it. Not one of his better films imo.
Is the man holding the newspaper the one in film that had his leg removed?

I agree with you that it's not one of his better films. I've never seen "The Paradine Case" (1947) or "Under Capricorn" (1949) as they aren't considered to be that good,

Yes, Gus (William Bendix) is the character holding the newspaper whose leg was amputated

El Loro
@El Loro posted:

I agree with you that it's not one of his better films. I've never seen "The Paradine Case" (1947) or "Under Capricorn" (1949) as they aren't considered to be that good,

Yes, Gus (William Bendix) is the character holding the newspaper whose leg was amputated

I watched it today....it wasn't action packed but it also wasn't too bad......very back in the day stiff upper lip
And again the immediate falling in love

slimfern
@slimfern posted:

I watched it today....it wasn't action packed but it also wasn't too bad......very back in the day stiff upper lip
And again the immediate falling in love

"The Paradine Case" was Hitchcock's last film he made for David Selznick under his 7 year contract for him.  It's thought that Hitchcock wasn't happy with working for him by then and was bored with having to make the film.
Selznick had bought the rights to the book in 1933 with Greta Garbo in mind for Mrs Paradine.

I've never been a fan of the "stiff upper lip" type of film.

El Loro
@Baz posted:

I’m not an avid film fan , at least not these days , but my favourite film is Gone with the Wind .


There used to be a cinema in my area which would sometimes show older films. I was able to see "Gone with the Wind" at that cinema. The burning of Atlanta scene was particularly memorable on the big screen

El Loro

I have to say I was a bit disappointed with Gone With the Wind. Probably not the fault of the film as such, but more because of te years of build up by my mum, she had seen it many years ago as a young adult, even before she and my dad got married and always said how wonderful it was. It was many years before I got a chance to see it, so after the repeated telling of how good it was I had probably built up a greater expectation of it. so was slightly deflated when the reality of the film didn't quite meet those expectations!

Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing

I have to say I was a bit disappointed with Gone With the Wind. Probably not the fault of the film as such, but more because of te years of build up by my mum, she had seen it many years ago as a young adult, even before she and my dad got married and always said how wonderful it was. It was many years before I got a chance to see it, so after the repeated telling of how good it was I had probably built up a greater expectation of it. so was slightly deflated when the reality of the film didn't quite meet those expectations!

First time seeing it (early teens) I just fell in love with the dresses
Not my favourite film, but I can see why Baz finds it so ........one big, very long and complicated love story

slimfern

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